Insaneiac: Took too long, so few words to spare here. I feel as if I should allow unto you a warning. This chapter has Sheena in it, snapping. I won't say any more, wouldn't want to spoil it for you. Further more, as this Act goes along, one must realize just why I chose the phrase, "Whereabouts of Truth" as its act title (Shinjitsu No Yukue). I can tell you and assure you of this; it wasn't just because the title sounded neat. Nothing could be a more reflective title than the one I chose. With that in mind, here is chapter 20.
Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia or any of the characters within it.
Chapter 20: A Human and a Half-Elf
Lloyd had cried for quite some time that night.
It was something he never did, something he avoided with any and all strength he had. He avoided it because tears could do nothing. He cried for weeks when he was found by Dirk, believing his tears would resurrect his mother from the grave. He cried when his knee get tore open after falling from a cliff when he was young. He cried when Genis had gotten knocked unconscious when they were children. Nothing ever came of his tears though. Lloyd Irving was not someone who cared about perceived strength or weakness. He did not avoid crying to avoid enemies believing he was weak and pathetic. Rather, he never wanted to be wasting his time crying when he could be making things right. But on that night that followed the horror at the Tower of Salvation, he had been mentally and physically tortured during the fight. After his closest of friends did as they had in their fits of blind rage, he had been left beaten, tired, and emotionally wounded.
Lloyd was breaking due to his failure to save his friend, and his failure to keep his promises. He was already barely holding together when he went to confront his friends, or rather confront his failures and apologize. He did so and even as Raine yelled at him and picked his soul apart with words alone and slapped him so hard that blood trickled from the impact point, he didn't let tears show. He was trembling and falling apart at the seams, but he was not going to crumble completely yet. Even after Genis drove his fist into Lloyd's jaw, he maintained his façade of strength. The moment he was gone though, when the last of his original friends left him in the room, Lloyd Irving had shattered like glass against a wall.
Sheena had not let go of him, had not left him to himself, until the final tear came and was soaked into her outfit. Sometimes she would just comfort him while he sobbed, other times she would assure him that there were still people that cared for him, other times she would stay silent and simply hold him. After all, she knew how he was feeling, what he was feeling. She knew what she wanted to be told when it happened to her, while it was happening to her.
After a while of this, the two broke from the embrace and looked into each other's eyes. There were no words exchanged, but Lloyd's face portrayed a gratitude that words would fail to express. Shortly after, the two went to get the last few hours of sleep they could muster up before Yuan would demand something of them.
And that was where they were now. In their proud leader's office as he struggled to keep himself from throttling Lloyd and Sheena. It also helped that Botta was in there with the three as well, and standing just close enough that Yuan could remind himself of what he agreed to. If he strangled Lloyd to death, how was he going to have him wield the Eternal Sword? If he choked Sheena until she croaked, how was he going to revive the Mana Tree?
Lloyd "Irving" Aurion. Kratos' darling little son, Yggdrasill's new ambitious desire, and his special trump card in the battle that he waged from shadows. All the sides were playing towards the one in the middle, and the fool had no clue just how valuable he was.
"In all seriousness, it was one blonde girl." Yuan muttered loudly enough for Lloyd to catch it, who fed him an icy glare. "Fine, there comes a point and time where one needs to move on, and we have no time for foolishness. Listen up Renegades." Yuan continued muttering until he spoke the final three words, his voice getting authoritative and powerful. "Thanks to our strongest efforts, the worlds are on the brink of being destroyed. Originally, my plan was two tiered and provided us ample time for the second half, but things never go according to plan in life. The Chosen One successfully completed the journey and has become the host body for Martel. That is bad." Yuan aimed the last three words at Lloyd, who simply nodded in response.
"We need to go to plan two now. An adjusted, more complex and much riskier plan two. From now until the end of this war…Botta will lead the Renegades on the ground." While Botta twitched at the mention, Lloyd and Sheena looked a lot more shocked by the announcement. In response, Yuan shifted his hair to the side and smirked. "I will be going back to the Tower, and playing the role of Yggdrasill loyal minion. I will also be doing everything to sabotage the rebirth of Martel, and to try and kill the host body." Yuan made sure to note the lack of options in his statement, effectively shutting down protest from Lloyd.
"Can't you just say Colette?" Lloyd growled, earning a widened smirk from Yuan.
"No Lloyd, I can't. Titles make it sound like I don't care about her, which is the case. They make it easier for me to do the things I don't want to do. It's easier to chop the head off a host body than it is to impale Colette…wouldn't you agree?" A cough from Botta brought the meeting back to the original topic, and earned Botta a rather scarring glare. "This means that you will cease to even mention me for the rest of your mission. In fact, you must all act like you have never even heard of me. Forget my name even exists. Were Yggdrasill to learn my place in this conflict, all my efforts would be wasted. To that end, your orders will come from Botta, who will get his from me discreetly."
"Why are you going back to the tower?" Sheena asked confusedly. Yuan forced down a scowl and instead retrieved a second smirk.
"Perhaps that could be because my sub commanders allowed Yggdrasill to achieve the first part of his plan. How would that be for a good reason?" Yuan shot back with a tinge of anger in his voice. "He's confident now. He sees his dreams coming to existence and he wants us to be present when he achieves them." 'It'll also give me time to dissuade him from pursuing you Lloyd. I'm not a sharing type of guy.'
"So, basically what your saying is…we messed up and you're going to do the job for us? And if you get caught?"
"Irving, I've been alive longer than all three of you put together. I've picked up enough tricks and learned strategies to write a book. I won't get caught." Pausing, Yuan reached over and pulled out a dossier from the desk, and opened it up. "That brings me to you two. Firstly, you two will continue making packs with the summon spirits. It'll give us power, take power from Yggdrasill, and more importantly…disconnect mana links. That'll split apart the bonds of mana that both hold the worlds together and keep them apart. It will also focalize the mana flow through the Tower of Salvation and give us a single point to combine the two planets together, as well as revive the Mana Tree."
Yuan did not even bother to see the horribly confused face that Lloyd wore before he sighed and glanced upwards. "Okay, let me go ahead and say that in fluent "idiot" for you, Lloyd. The mana flows are like links of chain. Currently, there are five links of chain between Sylvarant and Tethe'alla. The links can effectively be dubbed by their representative spirits. Gnome and Sylph, Celsius and Efreet, Luna and Shadow, and Undine and-"
"Volt…" Sheena spoke tensely as she realized what Yuan meant.
"Precisely. Now, pacts made with these eight will officially dispel the links of chain and cause there to be only a single chain. That's good Lloyd, as that point will be use to create a new tree that will force the two worlds into a single one. You two are to go to Tethe'alla as of today to begin making these pacts."
"Heh, beating up a couple summon spirits isn't hard." Lloyd spoke confidently, pumping his fist in the air.
"There is a bit more." Yuan continued, before pulling out a picture from the dossier and handing in to Lloyd. "That is a man that you will need to find the Tethe'alla and become good friends with. He is to become our spy within the Tethe'alla workings of Cruxis and the Church of Martel, as well as a valuable asset to your and Sheena's attempt to make the pacts." Lloyd nodded once before handing the picture to Sheena and smiling. Sheena smiled back before looking at the picture and going completely rigid. If one could listen to it, they would have heard Sheena's heart not only stop for several beats, but then scream in bloodlust and start thrashing about.
"He's Tethe'alla's Chosen of Mana. His name is-"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Sheena screamed at the top of her lungs and in pure rage. All eyes were upon her instantly, just in time to see her slam her fist down on the end of Yuan's desk and create a massive crack in the piece of furniture. "NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!! Absolutely not! There is no way in hell I am going to be traveling with that slimy little…BASTARD!" Lloyd's eyes opened wider as she realized that Sheena had almost ignited on fire at this point, her eyes spewing hellfire and brimstone into Yuan, who was even a little scared himself. "I don't give a rat's ass who you are Yuan, or just what the hell I'm supposed to be! I WILL NOT GO NEAR THAT…SEX FIEND!"
What followed was a display of Sheena's grasp on both common and Mizuhoan, spouting words and phrases that seemed to switch flawlessly and fluidly to her native tongue and then back to the language that everyone in the room understood. The words she said were the most vulgar of the vulgar, capable of causing an innocent child's head to erupt in a fierce explosion and cause holy scriptures to spontaneously burst into flames. Botta had long since decided that if he didn't sit down, he was liable to forget how to stand as he listened to Sheena go ballistic and sat down, while Yuan was doing his best not to let his face show just how horrified he was. The woman had split an ancient wood used to make some of the strongest armor on either of the planets with her hand alone. Even though he had seen a lot of horror in his life, a mere woman sending that large a crack through his desk was something that rekindled fear inside him. Lloyd, on the other hand, was staring in progressively increasing horror as Sheena continued on her verbal rampage. To say she was scary as she was now would be a very grand understatement.
"That lecherous skank loves nothing more than to stick his penis in ANYTHING with a hole in it and just go crazy. And you want US to put up with him! I'd rather have my eyeballs chewed on my rats than spend even a moment with that idiot whore! AND WHY IS HIS HAIR SO RED!? It's not red, it's obnoxious and god-awful and for the love of the GODDESS, can he just once PRETEND not to look at a person's breasts!? How much help is he going to be when he's drooling after copping a feel? Oh don't look at me like that, you don't have an answer do you?! Knowing you, Yuan, you just want us to get the freaking hump fiend as torture for failing to do something right? That's what it is isn't you, you sick bastard! Well shove it!" Sheena descended from her rant into another spew of words that could only be explained as an unholy union of Mizuhoan and Common. "And for the sake of the Goddess, HOW MUCH PINK can a man wear!? It's offensive to the eyes of humanity in general to see that much pink on a man. Wait for me to fall asleep before coming in and trying to hump me into the ground, WELL I WON'T HAVE IT! I don't care if he's the Chosen of Mana or the Chosen of Diseases; I am NOT going to be stuck with him trying to have rampant sex with anything on legs! And what about those tramps that follow him everywhere and then make those stupid puppy eyes at him! Knowing that breast brained retard, he'd go down on them in the middle of the freaking field and taint the land around him."
"Sheena…" Yuan spoke hesitantly, flinching when all of the rage that was being exuded by Sheena focused itself upon him.
"WHAT?!"
Although his heart had stopped beating out of sheer horror, Yuan very coolly lifted his hand and pointed at Lloyd, beginning the turn in attention to her close friend. "You're traumatizing Lloyd." He spoke as though the matter was fact. If one listened, they would hear the sound of her face and aura actual dissipating and turning soft. She soon saw that Lloyd had frozen in spot and was barely even moving as he was breathing. There was a slight quiver every now and then, but for the most part he was as still as a wooden board.
"Botta…" Lloyd began meekly, not sure if he had heard things right. "What does it mean to…" Lloyd began slowly and weakly before flawlessly repeating a third of the curses Sheena had uttered as fluidly as she had, causing the three in the room to look at Lloyd in horror, even Yuan. "…upside-down with a potato peeler?"
"It means…" Yuan spoke before Botta could while rubbing his temples with his fingers in a tender nature, "…that the two of you had better get your asses in line. I'm not running a vote her, I'm giving you your damned orders." Yuan was now very angry. The psychotic banshee of a ninja had just turned his desk into kindling, and had spewed out more vulgar phrases than he had heard in his entire lifetime. "Now you will go to Meltokio, you will recruit Zelos Wilder into the team, and then you will proceed to make new pacts. And if any of you have even a cough of a disagreement to it, you can shove it in the crapper along with my patience. Now, state the mission I gave you, and if I hear even so much as a groan, I'll make sure to bring a piece of hell right to you."
"You want us to go to Meltokio and recruit Zelos Wilder into the Renegades. From there, we are supposed to go make pacts with the Tethe'alla summon spirits." Lloyd spoke quickly, snapping out of his state of trauma. Yuan was losing it, and he didn't want that at all. That and he was beginning to get scared of sending Sheena into another episode.
"Wait…you said Luna. We haven't made a pact with her yet." Sheena replied, noticing the crack she put into the desk, allowing herself a brief grin. "Wouldn't it be smart to make all the pacts with Sylvarant spirits first?"
"Luna is the last one on the list. That way, we can make sure the point of origin for the new Mana Tree is base in Sylvarant primarily, which is where most of our energy has been focused on. Further more, you'll need to wait until my Renegades find Aska and get her over to the Tower of Mana." Yuan added before glancing at the door. "My men will lead you to the portal that will take you to Tethe'alla's base. From there, take the Rheaird to Meltokio. Botta will get in touch with you by communicator should anything change. Once you get to Meltokio, you won't be able to get back for quite some time. You'll need the full capabilities of the Rheaird to reach the base, and to do that you'll need Volt." Yuan explained before standing up himself. "And this is important beyond words. If you see me in you mission, you are to treat me as though I am an enemy, as that is exactly how I will present myself. I need you to fight me like you would Kratos or the Desians. I won't kill either of you, but I'll make it look like I want to do nothing else but."
It was somber for a good while after the announcement, but eventually both the heads of Lloyd and Sheena nodded before Yuan was satisfied with them. Turning his head slightly, just enough so Botta knew he was speaking to him, but not enough for his eyes to see past his hair and into Botta's eyes.
"That goes for you too, Botta." Yuan muttered darkly. "Be careful while working with Rodyle. No one with a shred of intelligence trusts that fat little man, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have his uses. Keep him at arm's length so you can cut his head off all the quicker, should you need to. And…" Yuan began, pausing for a moment before looking towards the door and starting to walk. "…keep out of sight if he decides to chat with his dear Pronyma." With that final notice, Yuan exited the room and walked away.
"…" Botta stared at the door that Yuan left through before glancing at Sheena and Lloyd and nodding. "You're dismissed Renegades. Get to your mission." The two nodded and bowed once before walking out of the room. Botta, now all alone, glanced up at the ceiling and closed his eyes. "Lloyd…I will entrust this to you then." He muttered nearly silent, as he slid his hand along the Gargant.
------ Meltokio ------
"Wow." Lloyd spoke, saying the same thing for what had to be the fifteenth time since entering the city, glancing around at the marvelous architecture and bustling environment that the city had to it. Common people wearing clothes that would belong to the highest of the high life on Sylvarant, shops that sold things at discount prices that he would have had to pay out the wazoo for, and so much more than all that. Lloyd felt like he was walking into the future, which made him look a lot like a little boy in a candy shop. He was aware that people were looking at him funny, but what he was not too aware of was that certain members of the female committee were giving him looks that seemed to set Sheena off just a bit.
"Lloyd, it's not that grea…" She stopped in mid sentence as she caught the eyes of a particularly well endowed woman glancing at Lloyd, and could have sword she saw her lick her lips. "…Let's get to the Noble Side of the city, find that moron and get the hell out of here." Sheena spoke rather angrily while shooting a glare at the woman that knocked her right off her feet. 'Wait…why am I getting so violent? Lloyd's not that stupid, is he?' Sheena mused to herself, glancing at Lloyd long enough to see him waving to a group of woman that looked like the type to associate with their intended target. Associate with him on a nightly basis. 'Great, I'll be babysitting a pervert and protecting an innocent moron at the same time…I am going to kill Yuan for this when I see him.' Grabbing Lloyd by the arm, she began to speed up her pace, nearly pulling Lloyd right off his feet.
"Sheena…are you okay?" Lloyd muttered worriedly, glancing at his friend in concern.
"I'm fine." She spoke unconvincingly as she stared straight ahead. "Lloyd, have you ever had the Talk?" Sheena was hoping that he had. If not, then this was going to be a very long day and Lloyd was going to get eaten alive by Zelos.
"Sure." A sigh of relief escaped Sheena. "Lots of them. Talks about all sorts of things. Sword crafting, proper sword handling skills, polishing a sword properly, a couple of boring ones about the world with Raine. Why?" A sigh of depression soon followed.
"I should have known." Sheena whimpered as she glanced at the ground before locking eyes with Lloyd. "Lloyd, for your sake, please stop waiving at the Zelos hussies." She added as they reached the mansion that belonged to Zelos. "And don't ask what I meant by that. You're going to see in just a moment." She finished as she went to knock on the door.
Just before her fist could even connect with the door, the door swung up and Sheena ended up falling forward and into the open arms of a pink clad man with violently red hair and gentle blue eyes that seemed to curve in just as big a smile as the one on his face. At first, Lloyd wanted to comment on how he had thought Zelos was a man before he realized that, despite his very female features, he actually was a man. He paused for a moment longer, allowing for dramatic effect before wrapping his arms around his flabbergasted ninja and smiling even wider. Lloyd's eyes switched from the surprisingly effeminate male to the now quivering Sheena, her barely able to be seen eyes looking like blazing infernos.
"I knew my voluptuous hunny would always come back to me." Zelos proclaimed, as one of his hands slid down her back to her posterior. "My horoscope must be awesome today!" Filling the entire sector of the city was a massive, hammering blow that connected with the side of the redhead's face. Zelos was knocked right off his feet and crumpled to the ground like a sack of potatoes, bringing everyone's attention towards the now furious ninja and how she was stomping the prone figure of the Chosen of Mana while screaming various profanities at the top of her lungs.
"YOU! STUPID!! PERVERT!!!" Sheena screeched as she trounced Zelos ruthlessly. Lloyd had begun to shy away from the rather violent scene, confused of whether he should be stopping Sheena from killing their intended ally or helping to kill Zelos for how he treated his friend. He was about to make a decision when he heard a whimper come from a nearby alleyway, followed by what sounded like a clubbing sound. Deciding that Sheena had the situation well under hand, Lloyd dashed towards the alleyway and looked down it. At the other end of it, he saw four fully armored knights, wearing rather ornate suits of green and white armor and wielding large and equally as ornate spears. Lloyd paused for a second upon seeing them, slightly intimidated by how they seemed to carry themselves and their image, before he looked past them and saw someone lying on the ground.
The figure was a small child, no taller than Genis was. He had blonde hair that was matted with clumps of his blood, and from what he could see of the curled up child, wore a rather unique white shirt of sorts with cyan trim that was equally as bloodied, with tears in the side revealing large gashes that blood flowed out from. Lloyd could see from the distance that the child was crying heavily, backing himself into the corner of the alley as the four knights circled in on him. It took Lloyd all of a second before acting, dashing towards the knights and leaping at the last second. The closest knight turned to look at Lloyd just in time to take a shoulder to the head, and stumbled into the other four, knocking them into a wall and throwing off their stance.
The child's head shot towards the interloper with eyes of complete surprise, while the knights all turned to the intruder that had put himself in front of the child they were just attacking. "Just what do you think you're doing!?" Lloyd yelled viciously as he glared into the knights maliciously. "Who beats up children?!"
"Fool! Get out of here and mind your own business." One of the knights said, pointing past him and to the boy he was protecting. "Under the order of the Pope, all half-elves are to be taken in and locked away and experimented on. Any that resist are to be killed without a second thought." The boy was afraid that Lloyd would leave after learning that he was a half-elf, but all Lloyd did was glare even harder and rest his hands on the hilts of his swords.
"So what! Who cares if he is a half-elf, what makes this idiot pope think it's right to do that?" Lloyd retorted, shocking all members of the people around them.
"Half-elves are filth! They need to be clea-"
"Shut the hell up!" Lloyd interrupted angrily, silencing the knights.
"You moron…these are Papal Knights…they'll kill you for helping me." The half-elf behind Lloyd tried to warn, but the brunette simply shook his head. "What are you doing? Why are you throwing your life away like this?" The boy stopped trying to push him away after he saw Lloyd turn his head and smile warmly at him.
"Because everyone deserves the right to live, regardless of who they are." Lloyd replied, before glancing back at the knights. "And you can tell your pope that I said that! He can take his hate filled rules and shove it!"
"The price for a human protecting half-elf scum is life in prison! Come quietly and you will not get hurt." The same knight spoke authoritatively, raising his spear to Lloyd. "The Pope is merciful to humans, no matter the crime."
"Good for him, but I don't care. I won't let you hurt innocent people while I'm around. I don't care if they're human or half-elf or even a monster, I won't let you people hurt others for no good reason!" Just as he finished this, Lloyd drew his blades as quickly as possible and caught the spear in mid stab. Turning his swords into scissor like blades, Lloyd sliced the spear in two before kicking the knight in the gut and into the alleyway wall. Spinning around, Lloyd brought his left blade slicing straight through another spear before slamming the hilt of his right sword into the side of the knight's head and knocking him off his feet. By the time the second one had fallen, the commotion had reached people in the streets, and soon there was lots of screaming for more knights. Growling, Lloyd quickly cut through the other spears and tripped the last two knights before sheathing his sword and grabbing the boy. With a grunt, Lloyd tossed him over and onto his shoulder and dashing out of the alley.
------ Zelos' Mansion ------
After Sheena had sufficiently beaten the crap out of the arrogant red head that found it necessary to grab her rear, or at least attempt to, she began to roll him back into his mansion so as to avoid making to much a scene. After all, assaulting the Chosen of Mana was a punishable offense. Really, she was more worried about his hussies coming for revenge and trying to kill her for even touching Zelos in a violent manner. Feeling confident that Zelos was now safely inside his mansion, she shut the door and glanced up at Zelos' butler and, overall, the only person with a conscious that associated themselves with Zelos.
"Hello Sebastian." Sheena said with a smile which turned to a grin as she watched him glance at Zelos. "Don't worry, he's not dead."
"Ah, as I can see." Sebastian replied respectfully before turning his attention away from the smiling Zelos. "Alone today, Lady Sheena?"
Sheena paused for a moment before looking around, suddenly realizing she was short a brunette swordsman. "Oh crap, Lloyd! Grrr…with my luck, one of his whores got a hold of him." Sheena growled and added a kick to Zelos' kidney before standing up fully. "I'll be right back, make sure he doesn't go anywhere, okay?" Sheena added, reaching the door before she heard the commotion. She opened the door, fully expecting to have to fight her way through angry broads, when she saw something much worse. Papal Knights, lots of them, were marching down the street in a format that spoke strongly of bad events. Sighing out miserably, Sheena turned around to glance at Zelos and frown.
"Great. What the hell did Lloyd go and do?" Shaking her head woefully as she began to shake Zelos and try to get him to stand up, deciding not to waste energy in hiding her worried face. "Zelos, wake up! I need you to help me find Lloyd!"
"Who's Lloyd, mommy?" Zelos asked in a half daze, parts of his body hurting from the all-to-worth-it beating. Sheena gave him a smack across the head without missing a beat before pulling him to his feet and turning back to the door.
"Your competition."
------ Street Leading to Slums ------
"Sheena is going to kill me for this." Lloyd muttered as he dashed into the street. The nameless half-elf had since wrapped his legs around Lloyd's back and his arms around the swordsman's neck, going into more of a piggyback position. This gave Lloyd both his hands incase he needed his swords ready.
"Why are you doing this? You'll be locked away for life. You'll never see your friends again, or ever find love..." The boy asked fearfully again, as Lloyd began running down the road and away from knights. He needed to get the kid out of the city if he wanted any chance to survive. "The might just let you go free if you give me over." The knights said it themselves, Lloyd will go to jail. The way things were going for the half-elf though, Lloyd could not have left him there. "Are you even listening to me? They're going to take away your right to live a free life!"
"I don't care about that. I won't let people kill other people simply because of race. It's wrong!" Lloyd exclaimed as he turned down another alley and dashed into another street, empty of any knights. "Good people cannot let wrong things happen in front of them. Dwarven vow number two: Never abandon someone in need." Lloyd quoted proudly, glancing up at the bloodied half-elf. He was still crying slightly, but he could see the confusion that swirled inside the sapphire blue eyes.
"A human saving a half-elf from sanctioned death while quoting Dwarven vows…you're a weird one, aren't you?" The boy spoke rather bluntly, causing Lloyd to grin. "Do you have a name?"
Lloyd's head turned around just in time to see Papal Knights coming down a street in front of them. Turning again, Lloyd shot into a new alleyway, his one longer and curving about with no entrances other than the one to his rear, and the one that came out the other end.
"Lloyd. Lloyd Irving." Lloyd spoke with a smile. He snaked a hand to one of his swords just in case he had to fight through someone at the other end. "And you?" Lloyd glanced back at the rather bloody half-elf, still smiling like things were going alright.
For the first time since meeting the half-elf, Lloyd saw a smile gently form on his face. "I do, Lloyd. My name…is Mithos."
A/N: Oh yah, I so ended it right there. The first actual chapter to Shinjitsu no Yukue ends with one big freaking cliffhanger. I can hear the fury now. Peace.